1. Field of Invention
This invention is a large animal dentistry tool to provide access to the animal's teeth
2. Description of Prior Art
Horses teeth edges will sharpen in the lateral grinding process of eating. These sharp edges need to be filed smooth or the animal may abrade the soft tissue of its mouth with these sharp edges.
People have in the past inserted solid objects between the animals molars preventing the animal from closing its mouth and providing access to the opposing molars as in U.S. Pat. No. 1,130,346, Frank Swales 1914.
The problem with solid objects is that the animal will chew on the object in its worry of the situation. This can strain the animals jaw muscles as well as crack or chip its teeth.
In U.S. Pat. No. 4,450,831 Louis D. Jeffery 1982 we have the problem of the solid mouthpiece and the additional problem of difficulty removing the speculum if the animal should panic which is not uncommon.
People have also tried other methods to hold open the mouth as in U.S. Pat. No. 5,704,901 Jack Meister 1996, U.S. Pat. No. 442,180 James Halfpenny 1890, U.S. Pat. No. 5,718,665 Clay Stubbs 1997 and U.S. Pat. No. 477,838 Charles Elliot 1892. In each of these devices the tool operates on the animals incisor teeth, holding the jaw very forcefully open with no give or take. Horses being by nature, claustrophobic, can be terrified by this rigid confinement and are subject to panic in this situation. Then there is the difficulty of trying to remove the tool and control a 1,000 lb panicking animal.